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It’s all about attitude // How to overcome negative thoughts and take on a new challenge

Wednesday, August 10, 2016

Hi there!

Have you ever felt like stuck to a point where every little thing seems impossible to deal with? Or whenever you decide to take on a new adventure or challenge, do you feel that little voice in your head telling you that you will never make it?

Whenever we challenge ourselves on surfing bigger waves or exploring a new spot, sometimes we can get overwhelmed by negative thoughts and the fear of failure.

Today Birgit from ByogaByou.com will help us overcome this negative attitude.

In her blog Birgit shares yoga video lessons, writes about health, nutrition, meditation and lots more. Her next book "Un'Autentica te" will be out in Italy on February 2007 and will be soon translated in English and German.

On Surfragette she shares with us some tips to change a negative mindset and turn it into a positive attitude and get ready take on new challenges.

“Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference”

Winston S. Churchill

When we start something new at the beginning we get excited but straight after comes fear. This is quite normal, it is the fear of the unknown, it is the fear of the thoughts in your heads saying: “will I be good enough”, “will I succeed by doing it”, “will I be in danger”, and so on. There are many fears and thoughts that can come up in our minds when we approach something for the first time and that could stop us enjoying what we do or even, it could stop us doing it at all.

Last year, at the age of 37, I decided to start a new hobby: surfing. Even if now I am living in Italy where the surf scene is not that big, I used to be very fascinated to watch people doing it while I was living in Australia, where I was always too scared of sharks to try it. But now the time was right and I decided to give it a go. And there I was, my first lesson: I wasn’t strong enough, fast enough, I was scared of the bigger waves that where slapping in my face and I just felt I wasn’t good enough at the end.

So, what happened next? Probably if I did not loved and enjoyed it so much I would have just tried a new thing but something pushed me from the inside and there it was: my attitude. I changed the way I was seeing reality, I changed from feeling a failure to take on a new challenge, I changed from a negative mind to a positive one, and I continued until the love of surfing grew and became a passion.

It’s all about attitude.

Many times in our lives, and actually also just in one day, our attitude is crucial to our thoughts and decision. A good positive attitude will allow you to see the challenges that you fear as opportunities to enjoy. Attitude gives us the power to become who we want to become, and determines who others think we are. This is how important it is.

How to change your attitude

1. See your negative thoughts as unreal and try to change them in positive. Our thoughts are just our perception of reality, it is not reality itself, so try to stay focus and don’t listen to those fears as much as you can.

2. Don’t listen to negative, unconstructive judgments other people say. For example, when I started surfing people would say that I was very slow, weak, and too old for that kind of sport. If I would have had listened to that I wouldn’t still be here and enjoy doing it and write about it.

3. Give yourself a goal and small steps to reach it. If you just look at the big goal you want to reach it can seem too big from the starting point and so overwhelming that you might abandon the whole idea of doing it. So, have your goal in mind but set small goals and actions to get to it, and I promise you that you will get to it without even notice.

4. Visualize. Visualizing is such a huge part in getting to your goal. Visualize every day for five minutes on how it will feel when you reach your goal. Really dig into that emotion, don’t just see the image of the situation. Emotions create your reality.

5. Stop controlling and be flexible. Not always things go how we expected, so you have to let go of the illusion that you can control everything. Many times in my life when I have not controlled something it actually turned out better and I had much more fun. As they say: go with the flow.

6. Ask for help from who is already where you want to be. Don’t look up at those people and be jealous of them but contact them and ask them to show you the steps they have taken to get there and follow them too.

7. Be passionate. Love what you do, don’t just do it because somebody told you to. Life is too short for this!

8. Stop worrying and just enjoy.

You can also use yoga to build a strong attitude by using postures that strengthen your body. Here are six yoga postures you can practice every day and feel so much stronger:

4 comments on "It’s all about attitude // How to overcome negative thoughts and take on a new challenge"

I still easily slump into negative thinking patterns. However, I've gotten very good at lifting myself out of negativity. Just being alive and breathing is sufficient for happiness and regardless of any other fact. The reward for your effort might be amazing too. Just adjust your attitude, choose life.

We must decide what is wisdom, we are all human, we all have a life of ups and downs, there is no such thing as a ‘master’, only people who may help each other. This is what ive learned from my life, maybe it will strike a chord with someone.